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Russian Drone Strikes Kill 9 in Kyiv Region Overnight; Protesters Block Airport, Clog Streets in France; Prince William Visits Troops Near Ukrainian-Polish Border; President Biden Makes First Trip to Canada as President; Off-Duty Pilot Flies into Action; Grand Jury in New York Meeting Today. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired March 23, 2023 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:32:02]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Just moments ago U.S. markets opened and they opened happy. They woke up with a smile this morning.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: You know what, it's Friday eve. I think they're feeling it.

BERMAN: This is of course after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter percentage. That happened yesterday.

HILL: Yes. So you're seeing the big board right now. So, you know, up two-thirds of a per point, we'll take it. The Fed's decision to raise interest rates again, signaling that inflation as we know does remain a big concern. But there was a lot of discussion about how that decision was made. Jerome Powell also suggesting in remarks yesterday the Fed could stop raising rates. We'll see if and when that happened.

BERMAN: Indeed.

HILL: So we'll keep an eye on that. Meantime, I want you to get you caught up on some of what we're following around the globe this morning.

Russia launching another round of deadly strikes across Ukraine, killing at least nine people in the Kyiv region. Another in Zaporizhzhia. This is according to officials there.

BERMAN: A top Ukrainian general says Russian forces have been battered so badly fighting for Bakhmut that Ukrainian troops in Kyiv will be able to go on a counteroffensive in that eastern city. What he says very soon.

CNN correspondent David McKenzie joins us now live from Odessa.

David, what's the latest?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Erica, that's an interesting statement from that very senior official or general from the Ukrainian military saying that in Bakhmut in the eastern part of this conflict after many, many months of fierce fighting, his estimation is that Ukrainians are depleting the Russian forces, mostly those Wagner mercenary groups very severely and that it may lead to depression, such that they can mount a counteroffensive.

I have to say it's impossible to really verify that accurately but there is a sense in the last few days that Ukrainians they are making some ground, though they do only control a limited part of that heavily destroyed city that's been under contestation for many, many, many months, and you've had a very tragic raise in the death toll from those drone strikes in Kyiv. Those Shahed Iranian drone striking civilian areas.

And also in Zaporizhzhia, with a missile strike, a dramatic and tragic strike on an apartment building, a nine-story building, partially destroyed maracas. It seems at this point, only one dead, many injured, though, John, and it comes as President Zelensky has been on this tour over the last few days to frontline regions. He was in the east and then in the northeast, and now his close to where I am to the front lines, inspecting damage from previous engagements and areas that Ukraine took back months ago.

You do get a sense that everyone's wondering and waiting to see if that counter effective does, in fact, begin soon -- John, Erica.

HILL: Yes, exactly. David McKenzie, appreciate the reporting this morning. Thank you.

[09:35:02]

Twelve thousand police officers set up across France this morning. 5,000 of them are in Paris alone as protesters filled the streets once again, even blocking access to Charles de Gaulle airport. You can see that here.

BERMAN: They have been demonstrating for days after the government pushed through a controversial plan, raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Melissa Bell is live in Paris for us.

Those streets packed behind you, Melissa, you know, the airports. What's the latest?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this march, as you can see, it's just getting underway and what the unions are hoping, John and Erica, is that they're going to beat that record that they saw on in early March of more than a million people on the streets and they're going to get substantially more. And you're quite right. This isn't just about the number of people they're going to get on the streets of cities like Paris today, but also about those blockages.

What we've been seeing over the course of the last few days as a result of these many weeks of strikes not just garbage piled high here in Paris, but people actually starting to have to line up outside gas stations because of those blockages were seeing at oil depots and oil refineries. And that's the point is that although this retirement age, raising of it from 60 to 64 is going to become lower, now just has one constitutional hurdle to go. They push it through parliament without a vote, which is finished to

drive these people pretty crazy that lost constitutional hurdle. Beyond that, it will become law and the point of the unions and the people out protesting today is to try and cause as much trouble to the everyday life of France as they can. They believe that they still can get the government to back down. Emmanuel Macron has said no way, this will be law by the end of the year.

And this is the sort of arm wrestle that's now set to go on. We expect for the next few days, certainly, and possibly if the unions get their way for the next few weeks -- John and Erica.

HILL: It is really something and to see that it is still continuing. I think in many ways, not surprising that we still see it. They're still in the streets. Melissa Bell. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Well, Prince William making an unannounced trip to Poland. The visiting British and Polish troops are stationed near the Ukrainian- Polish border.

BERMAN: Today, he laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw and talked about the ties between the United Kingdom and Poland.

CNN anchor and royal correspondent Max Foster in Warsaw.

Max, what prompted this visit?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting. It's quite a last-minute decision, I was told. He just wanted to come here and really look at what the Poles continue to do to support the Ukrainians, and it is his first visit overseas in this new, you know, elevated title of Prince of Wales, and I think it's been interesting to see how he's using that. He clearly sees himself now as some sort of global statesman like figure promoting Western values because it's a political issue he's walking into.

He doesn't seem to be at all afraid of that. So he met the troops down there in the southeast yesterday, thanking them for supporting Ukrainian freedom, which he described as all of our freedoms. He then went to see the president today, President Duda, and thanked him and the Polish people for supporting Ukraine. So he's there representing a sort of Western democratic figure in many ways.

He then came here to this food hall to meet Ukrainians who had settled here. I went in afterwards, chat to a couple of them, and they got very powerful stories about how, yes, they're OK, because they're here. They've been hugely grateful to the Poles for supporting them, but it's really difficult every day, sometimes getting up, and trying to survive here when they just want to be home.

And hearing all these stories about the tragedies back in Ukraine, and he was quite affected by that as well. He was very keen, but we sort of talk about these stories. Continue talking about how much Poland is doing to support Ukraine. They've got something like 1.5 million Ukrainians here who have been given full access to public services like schools and hospitals, and it's a huge pressure on Poland.

So that's what his visit was really about, highlighting what Poland is doing in relation to Ukraine and supporting all of our values.

BERMAN: Max Foster, great to see you there. Very interesting to see this visit taking place right now.

All right. Jumping into action, off-duty pilot onboard a Southwest Airlines flight steps up when one of the pilots in the cockpit had a medical emergency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, we're going to get airstairs out here. The captain became incapacitated while enroute. He's in the back of the aircraft right now with a flight attendant. But we need to get him on an ambulance immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:40:06]

HILL: Today President Biden makes his first visit to Canada since taking office. It's a long-awaited visit with our northern neighbor.

BERMAN: Yes, this trip typically would have come much sooner in his presidency. Usually a trip to Canada is the very first, if not one of the first trips for a new U.S. president, but it was pushed back by the pandemic and, of course, the war in Ukraine.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House for us.

It's a short trip, but what's on the agenda, Arlette?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John and Erica, President Biden will touch down in Canada later this evening as he is trying to demonstrate and put the unity between the United States and Canada on full display in this trip. The president will be spending just a little over 24 hours on the ground there in Ottawa, where he is expected to have several meetings, including that bilateral meeting with Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, as well as giving an address to the Canadian parliament and also attending a glitzy gala dinner.

[09:45:00]

But the White House says that this should be viewed as a meaningful trip, one where they will be able to talk about much of the cooperation that has been conducted between the two countries. Chief among that is really the U.S. and Canada's work together when it comes to combatting Russia in its war against Ukraine.

They are also expected to talk about things like the North American supply chain, also climate change, and also that critical defense cooperations between the two countries, including efforts to modernize NORAD which really came into focus during the Chinese spy balloon incident a bit earlier this year. But officials say that there will also be some thorny issues that are on the agenda, and that includes migration, trade issues and also the deteriorating situation down in Haiti.

Now for President Biden, he has had a long-standing relationship with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He has met with him several times on the sidelines of various summits, including down in Mexico just in January during the North American Leaders summit, but it's also noteworthy that President Biden when he was vice president, one of his final trips he made outside of the U.S. was to Canada where he attended a dinner there that was held in his honor.

And during that meeting, President Biden has said that in the coming years, the world would be looking to Justin Trudeau for leadership on a host of issues. Of course, this was heading into the presidency of Donald Trump. But now, seven years later, President Biden will be reuniting with the Canadian prime minister on Canadian soil as the two of them are working together on a host of issues, chief among them really Ukraine.

BERMAN: All right, Arlette, we'll be watching this very closely. Thank you so much.

So this sounds like something out of a movie. In fact, I think it was the plot.

HILL: It may have been.

BERMAN: Right? Of airplane.

HILL: Yes.

BERMAN: A passenger on a Southwest flight jumping into the cockpit after the captain suffered a medical emergency. That passenger just happened to be a pilot from another airline.

HILL: CNN aviation correspondent, also a pilot by the way, Pete Muntean, joining us now.

So this flight, fortunately I want to say, landed safely. We've been talking all morning. It's totally fine when they say, is there a doctor on board? But if I heard, is there a pilot on board, that's when I would get worried. What happened?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Every general aviation pilot's dream really is to get called up into the flight deck to fly a commercial airliner. That's why I keep my pilot's licenses on me all the time, John and Erica, just to be safe.

You know, this is actually a pretty serious case, though, considering the fact that one of the pilots on board this Southwest Flight 6013 from Las Vegas to Columbus, Ohio, fell ill apparently and Southwest Airlines says there was no pilot at one point. And there are two pilots typically so just one pilot left in the flight deck. That is when a passenger who was on board the flight, also an airline pilot from a completely different airline, was pressed into service and Southwest says they came up into the flight deck and helped out.

This is the statement from Southwest Airlines, "A credential pilot from another airline who was on board entered the flight deck and assisted with radio communication while our Southwest pilot flew the aircraft. We greatly appreciate the support and assistance." So a pretty great coincidence here but also a pretty serious incident that the FAA is now investigating.

I want you to listen now to the air traffic control audio here. We're not totally sure if this is the Southwest pilot speaking or the pilot from the other airline that came in to help, but you can hear just how serious this really was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, we're going to get airstairs out here. The captain became incapacitated while enroute. He's in the back of the aircraft right now with a flight attendant. But we need to get him on an ambulance immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Southwest not releasing the condition of the pilot who fell ill. Also a mystery right now the name of the pilot who swooped in to help, in fact, no airline really claiming that pilot just yet. We're trying to find out more information about that. The FAA investigating here, the good news here is that a 737 like this really can be flown with one pilot, required to have two pilots, although really just the right place at the right time -- John and Erica.

HILL: Yes. Thank goodness. Pete Muntean, I'm glad you always carry these pilots' licenses.

BERMAN: Yes.

HILL: Because I would feel very safe with you at the controls, my friend.

BERMAN: I am only flying with Pete Muntean from now on.

HILL: I think that's a good call.

BERMAN: Right?

HILL: Yes. Yes. We'll save a lot of money for the company that way, too.

Pete, thank you.

Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:28]

HILL: We are following some breaking news right now out of New York. The grand jury, which, of course, is investigating former President Trump, meeting today but we're learning a little bit more about what they're planning to do in that meeting today, and that has frankly surprised a number of people.

BERMAN: Yes. I think what they're planning not to do is what's the most notable right now. And Kara Scannell is standing outside the courthouse.

Kara, why don't you give us this information? What exactly we know right now?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Erica, so sources tell us that the Manhattan grand jury that has been hearing the testimony about the hush money payments is meeting today, but they will not be hearing any testimony related to the investigation into former President Trump, though it's not uncommon for grand juries to hear multiple cases at a time. You remember they didn't even come in yesterday, even though that was one of their scheduled days.

But you know they next will meet hearing the Trump investigation on Monday, and it's possible as we've been reporting that they could call another witness to go before the grand jury. The grand jury last heard testimony on Monday when they heard from the witness from the Trump side that was Bob Costello, Michael Cohen's former attorney, and at the time, you know, it was possible that prosecutors were going to call Michael Cohen as a rebuttal witness.

At this point, it's not clear if Cohen will get called back or if it will be another witness that they decided to bring in. But for now, the activity at least for the Trump investigation is a bit on pause. They will next hear testimony in that case on Monday. The grand jury meeting today is not hearing testimony there -- John, Erica.

[09:55:00]

BERMAN: All right, just to reiterate so people who have been following this closely understand specifically what we now believe to be the case. They will not hear testimony today on the Trump case and they've also precluded the possibility of a vote on the Trump case. So nothing on the Trump case today as far as we understand, Kara?

SCANNELL: That's right, John. So it means that the next time that this grand jury could potentially vote on whether to indict the former president would be on Monday.

Now our sources tell us that they are weighing whether to bring an additional witness before the grand jury. How long that witness if it does come to that would go and would testify is really unknown. But it does mean that the next possible time for the grand jury to vote on a potential indictment if the D.A.'s office moves forward would be on Monday -- John, Erica.

HILL: And just really quickly, Kara. So they're still weighing that decision. They do have a number of other cases as you pointed out. Could they be discussing that today and we just don't know it? SCANNELL: Yes, I mean, absolutely. I mean, once they had this last

witness from the Trump side, you know, it would make sense for them to review the case, review the evidence, see how they want to go forward, if they're happy with their presentation so far. All sorts of factors will go into the discussions. This is obviously a historic decision, an unprecedented moment if they do decide to move forward with a charge against the former president.

HILL: Kara Scannell with that breaking news for us this morning.

Kara, appreciate it. Thank you.

BERMAN: Yes. We're going to hear much more on that coming up. Also, just a few minutes from now, lawmakers, we'll hear from the CEO of TikTok as some of them, some members of Congress push to ban the app in the United States. We're going to look at that live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)